Study Abroad
We encourage you to study abroad for an extraordinary experience away from campus. University programs are available across the world for you to travel for a week, a winter, a summer, a semester, or even for a year - all while working toward graduation.
Earn academic credit while you're away through faculty-led programs, enrollment in a bi-lateral exchange program, or direct enrollment in programs across the world.
See your advisor to learn more about upcoming study abroad programs and check out what is available from the Global Education Office.
Faculty-Led and Summer Programs
Open to all majors, this trip is a great opportunity to enhance your Spanish language ability by staying with a host family for two weeks. Join this faculty-led trip and learn more about Costa Rica's history, culture, and language.
Earn six credit hours while honing your French and exploring the City of Lights. Appropriate for any level, this trip will give you a rich experience of French culture.
Earn six credits while living with host families in Berlin, practicing German and experiencing the city. The program features a variety of cultural events as well as frequent travel including a final week in Munich and the Alps.
This five-week program in the historic city of Bologna is for students at the 2000 or 3000 level in Italian. Students take intensive language courses in the mornings and go on cultural excursions led in Italian in the afternoons.
This five-week program provides instruction in the Japanese language and culture and includes guided tours of historical sites, traditional performances, weekend trips, and intensive language and culture immersion in Japan.
Enrich your study of Russian by taking classes at Daugavpils University in Latvia. You will stay with a host family and participate in cultural programs including excursions to Dinaburg Fortress and Mark Rothko Art Center, Svente Mansion and Armor Museum, and Rundale Palace and Bauska Castle.
Earn up to 12 Arabic credits by studying in small, intensive classes, conversing with Omani language partners, and learning about local customs, current issues, values, and business life through lectures and cultural excursions.
Classes are offered at all levels, giving you a broad understanding of Senegal's arts, history, religion, politics, literature, cinema, and fashion through interdisciplinary lectures in English.
Join us as we hike for more than 300 km across northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago. This program features the medieval pilgrimage followed by two weeks of classes and homestay with families in Santiago de Compostela.
The program is held at Estudio Sampere in Madrid, which is centrally located in the capital. You will also participate in cultural visits around Spain on the weekends.
The 6-week program takes place in Puebla, Mexico where students will study at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP). Aside from attending one of Mexico's most prestigious universities, you will enjoy an on-campus immersion experience as you live in dorms and interact with Spanish-speaking students. Participate in local excursions to the Great Pyramid of Cholula, Church of Santa Marãa Tonantzintla, Cantona, and historic Puebla. You'll also take a weekend excursion to Mexico City, which includes visits to Teotihuacãin, the Zãcalo, the Palacio Nacional, the Templo Mayor, the Cathedral, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Frida Kahloâ Casa Azul, and the National Museum of Anthropology.
Exchanges and Other Programs
Spend one or more semesters studying at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
Université de Caen is located in Normandy, France, not far from the D-Day invasion beaches and less than two hours from Paris by train.
Study for the semester, year, or summer as an exchange student at the Universidad de Oviedo. Oviedo is a small university town in the northern Spanish autonomous community of Asturias.
Join the Chinese Language Institute and learn Chinese through one-on-one language training and complete immersion. Affiliated with Guangxi Normal University, the institute delivers intensive mandarin, college study abroad, china seminar, and teach in china program options.
There are many other opportunities for you to study abroad. Programs range from a few weeks to an entire academic year. Find the Global Education Office here.
Opportunities Abroad
Education Abroad Programs
Visit the Global Education Office for programs, travel guidelines, scholarships, and more information. Have more questions?
Interested in the Peace Corps?
The Virginia Tech Peace Corps Prep Program is designed to prepare you for international development fieldwork, international service careers, and Peace Corps service. Open to undergraduate students of any major, the Prep program pairs selected courses with leadership development and experiential learning to help you prepare for global service work.
Ut Prosim Beyond Boundaries: Global Outreach During the Pandemic
Check out the Ut Prosim Beyond Boundaries: Global Outreach During the Pandemic exhibition curated by Dr. Sweta Baniya, Laura Gautier, and Scott Fralin, which presents an example of Virginia Tech’s motto Ut Prosim in action. In this exhibition, we curate our experiences of an online service-learning-based Professional and Technical writing course at the Department of English that aimed at serving rural communities in Nepal to enhance digital literacy.
Academic Credit and Scholarships
Transferring Course from Other Institutions
- If you are on academic suspension, you may not take courses for transfer.
- Credit hours transfer; grades do not
- A limited number of credit hours may be transferred; see your course catalogue for more transfer credit policies
- Major upper-level courses are more difficult to transfer than lower-level elective courses because there are not exact equivalents; you should plan to take most major courses at Virginia Tech (of the last 45 hours before graduation, only 18 can be transferred).
Authorization to Take Course Elsewhere
If you decide to take courses elsewhere and want to transfer them to Virginia Tech, you should follow these steps:
- Complete the Authorization to Take Courses Elsewhere form, meet with your advisor, and obtain the required signatures.
- Investigate the courses that you want to take; gather information about academic level, hours, and content. You can usually find this information on the institution’s website.
- Submit the completed form to Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Building, 200 Stanger Street, for Dean's Office approval. Please submit this form prior to studying abroad to ensure that the courses you take will have a Virginia Tech equivalency.
- Request that your official transcript be sent to the Global Education Office (or ISEP if applicable). Transcripts MUST arrive in a sealed envelope:
Global Education Office (room 131)
526 Prices Fork Road
Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Scholarships
Related Links
Announcement
The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences awards scholarships each semester for students participating in education abroad. Scholarships vary in value from $250-$1,000.
Advisors
- Classical Studies - Richard Phillips
- French - Richard Shryock
- German - Debra Stoudt
- Russian – Robert Efird
- Spanish - Aarnes Gudmestad